Washington, DC: To reaffirm their commitment to the US-India Major Defense Partnership, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh conducted an initial conversation Thursday.

The two presidents focused their conversation on strengthening operational cooperation and developing defense industry and technology cooperation in order to prevent “aggression in Indo-Pacific.”

In an initial conversation today, Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reaffirmed their shared commitment to the US-India Major Defense Partnership. In order to prevent aggression in the Indo-Pacific, the leaders decided to pursue a bold plan to speed up military industry and technology cooperation as well as our operational cooperation,” the US Department of Defense stated in a statement.

It said, “The Secretary noted he looks forward to holding the next 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue and concluding the next ten-year US-India Defense Framework this year.”

On Thursday, Rajnath Singh said that he examined current defense collaboration and looked into measures to deepen India-US defense relations.

“We reviewed the ongoing defense cooperation and explored ways and means to expand and deepen the India-US bilateral defense relationship,” Singh said in a post on X. We also decided to lay up a comprehensive plan that encompasses logistics, intelligence, operations, and defense-industry collaboration. I’m excited to work closely with Secretary Hegseth.

In 2015, the ‘New Framework for India-US Defense Cooperation’ was extended for another ten years, serving as the foundation for India-US defense cooperation.

The defense partnership was named a Major Defense Partnership (MDP) in 2016. The Ministry of External Affairs reports that India was placed in Tier 1 of the US Department of Commerce’s Strategic Trade Authorization license exemption on July 30, 2018.

Regular institutionalized bilateral conversation, military drills, and defense procurements are only a few of the many facets of defense cooperation. The 2+2 ministerial discussion, co-chaired by the US Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense, as well as the Minister of External Affairs and the Minister of Defense, is the pinnacle of discussion methods. Advice on political, military, and strategic matters is given in this conversation. In November 2023, the sixth 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue was held in New Delhi.

The Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (2016), the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (2018), the Industrial Security Agreement (2019), the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (2020), and the Memorandum of Intent for Defense Innovation Cooperation (2018) are significant defense agreements that offer the framework for communication and collaboration.